Fredericksburg Drive-In
3534 Fredericksburg Road,
San Antonio,
TX
78201
3534 Fredericksburg Road,
San Antonio,
TX
78201
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Claude Ezell and Associates Inc., Stanley-Warner Theatres
Previous Names: Drive-In, Fredericksburg Road Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
This was the first drive-in built in San Antonio and opened as the Drive-In on October 23, 1940 with Gene Raymond in “The Life of the Party”. By 1955 it had been renamed Fredericksburg Road Drive-In and was operated by Underwood & Ezell. When it opened the back of the screen faced the road and it had a large mural of an actress painted on it. Later a clown replaced the actress and then an abstract painting replaced the clown. The Fredericksburg Drive-In had a long life lasting until 1982.
The site is now a shopping center and an apartment complex. The old roadside marquee is now used to list the shops in the shopping center. It had a 552 car capacity.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
Uploaded aerial from 1966. It looks like the curved cinema-scope screen was mounted in front of the flat screen.
An extra large aerial of the Drive-In shortly after it opened.
View extra large detailed photo
Does anyone know who the actress on the mural was?
The shopping centre(springwood?) and the marquee sign are little to the right of the street view photo!
Billboard, Nov. 27, 1954: “Robo, the monstrous robot elephant owned by Ezell & Associates, is scheduled for a one-week stay at Fredericksburg Road Drive-In San Antonio. The elephant will make a tour of Texas, stopping at various cities where Ezell & Associates has drive-ins. Robo is 9 feet high, 12½ feet long, weighs 2,500 pounds and is powered by a four-cylinder, 10-horsepower motor.”
The Drive-In theatre opened on October 23rd, 1940. Grand opening ad posted.
Opened with “Gateways to Panama(March of time)” and “The life of the party”.
I would say that the actress was Janet Gaynor, who was huge in the late 20s, until she retired in 1939. She was the first winner of the Best Actress Oscar (for three simultaneous films between 27 – 28, awarded in 1929).
The abstract art on the back of the screen was 3 squares interlocked.
My guess is that the actress on the mural was Joan Crawford. She was a native San Antonian